Microsoft Expression Blend Beta1 is here!

It took a while, but we finally managed to get it done. Previously code-named "Sparkle", then named "Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer", we finally settled for "Microsoft Expression Blend". There is more to it than just the new name - download and try now from https://www.microsoft.com/expression. (It will be a while before the site updates make their way thru the server farms, but try https://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/expression-blend/try.mspx)

If you offered us feedback either via the Newsgroup or Connect, we are very thankful to you. We also wanted to thank you for your patience as it has been almost a year since we published anything - this time, we wanted to take the time and do it right! You will notice that we really listened to your feedback and we will continue to do so thru the Beta period - if you really want to see a feature that is greatly missing from Blend, now is the time to let us know. As soon as I get a few minutes to finish it up, I will post a list of things that I think are cool in this new Beta (and yes, it will be a long list).

I tried my best to make sure any bug you reported via Connect or the Newsgroup would get fixed. However, I am sure we missed a couple (as is always the case). My apologies - please let me know - we will def. fix them for the next release.

Have a great holiday season!